FAQ Friday: Foam in Wigs

Today’s question is…

When you say you “built the wig up with foam,” what do you mean? What kind of foam are you using?

I just throw “foam” out there without really thinking about it, don’t I?
The kind of foam I use can be found at Joann’s or Hancock, etc – it’s a thick block of foam meant for home decor/furniture. You can find similar foam in things like pillow forms, etc. But I like the thick blocks. Here’s part of my stockpile:

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I’ve used in lots of things. It glues together really great with Super77 glue, so you can put together blocks and carve out shapes – we used this for Beast and Stitch.
For carving large shapes I’ll use an electric knife, for smaller shape, a regular knife and scissors.

Here’s Ash’s Mary wig with the shaped foam piece set on top, before covering it:

The foam form we used for Mary's wig, before covering it.Kelldar.com | My Facebook Page | Tumblr | Instagram

To not only camouflage the foam, but also to give it a good base for stitching, I cover the foam in stretchy fabric. I just stitch it around loosely, enough so it holds. Here’s a covered foam piece I used for Marie Antoinette:

I created a foam form to put in the interior of the wig to help with the height. I covered it in spandex to make it easier to sew into the wig cap. I had to go back and cut it down a bit because it ended up being a little taller than I wanted.Kelldar.com | My Facebook Page | Tumblr  | Instagram

Sometimes I’ll split the wig cape open to sew the foam piece in, but more often than not, I’ll just sew it directly onto the wig cape wherever I want it. Once it’s in place, I can either glue, pin or sew the hair onto it however I want.
Here’s Cath’s Winnie wig, which was just pinned and hairsprayed over the forms, one side done here, the other side uncovered:

Winnie wig half finished!I decided to reuse my old curly Black Widow wig for this project. It wasn't perfect, but it saved some money. I made foam forms to build up the side sections and sewed them in, then pinned and sewed the hair around them.Kelldar.com | My Facebook Page | Tumblr | Instagram

Alyss’ hair was glued around the form:

Getting the wig formed over the "helmet" and the foam piece. This is the only time I've ever done a wig this way and it was interesting. Not sure I'd do it again.Kelldar.com | My Facebook Page | Tumblr  | Instagram

So that’s what I mean whenever you see me mention foam in a wig!